These days most parents are stretched to the max. They are working, taking care of the home, driving the kids to school and practice and events. There just are not enough hours in the day. The temptation to just pull over and grab a Burger King Kid’s Meal or a McDonald‘s Happy Meal is huge. But is it healthy. Or nutritious. Is it even cost-effective? When looking at the Burger King menu prices as compared directly to McDonald’s menu prices, which offers the most nutrition for the buck? And, in the end, is fast food really the best choice for your child?

Kids meals not that bad

The Burger King offers three Kid’s Meals. The Hamburger meal, because the burger is flame-broiled, has only 230 calories, 9 grams of fat and 9 grams of protein. Apples are available as a meal choice, as is non-fat or chocolate milk for a drink rather than a sugary soft drink. The Cheeseburger Kid’s meal has a few more calories and fat because of the cheese, but the protein is 11 grams. All in all, not bad choices. There is a Chicken Nugget meal available as well, but no nutritional information was available on their website. Probably not a good sign, that.

Depending upon location, McDonalds menu prices may or may not still offer junky toys with their Happy Meals. Still, they have gone the extra mile to try to create a nutritious meal for their youngest consumers. Each of their three meals offers “apple slices or Yoplait Go-GURT Low Fat Strawberry Yogurt and your choice of fat free chocolate milk, low fat white milk or apple juice”. Parents will notice that a soft drink is not on the menu. However, even though McDonald’s makes a large show of trying to offer healthy meals, there are no easily found nutritional data about the meals. Instead, the consumer must add all the component parts of the meal together and figure out nutritional values for themselves. Bottom line is that many of the Happy Meals have higher calories and fat levels than the BK Kids Meals.